Softer
by ZodiacAnalyst
Summary: Well here it is guys, chapter 1 of Softer continuing from Softer: A Tale of Karkitty. hope you enjoy it and expect to see updates.
1. Chapter 1

**The Characters are Hussies' The Story is mine.**

Softer

Chapter 1

Karkat POV

You are a gray cat awakening from a nice nap. Lying next to you is the sleeping form of your owner. You don't know how long the two of you have been asleep but it looks as though it was beneficial to you both. You remember that your owner has frequent nightmare, of course none of them you can explain as you are a cat. You lift yourself up onto all fours to do your little after-nap stretch. After doing so you skirt along the edge of the bump that your owner takes up. You find the edge of the bed, nearly falling of because of the slippery blanket. It's covered in green ghosts things but you don't know that you are a cat. You walk slowly to the door, stretching out your muscles from sleeping, and proceed to check the rest of the house.

Oh wait you forgot your name, as you frequently do after taking a nap, now what was it again? Oh yes that's right your name is Karkat Vantas but your usually called "Karkitty" by your owner and his friends. That's alright with you as you aren't one to FLIP OUT RANDOMLY. That was when you were younger, a past you if you will, and all the mistakes as past you are his fault. But enough of that let's just say after a certain incident you mellowed out. Surely this will lead to a flashback sometime later in the story but you have no control over that.

Anyway you strut about the hall showing off your magnificent feline form, surely the best in this household. But even as you think that you feel a strange presence come up behind you. This isn't something that a lot of the other cats in the house do so you know who it is immediately. But instead of some random strife how about we let this gentlecat tell his tail (tale) before that can happen.

Strange Cat

Suddenly the narrative is centered on you, and you start to sweat. You would ask for a towel but no one seems to understand your meow and your fur has already started to absorb it, making your coat matted. You decide that you will leave to develop your character before you confront Karkat. You feel that this is more important.

Your name is Equius Zahhak and MAN THAT SWEAT MAKES YOU LOOK FINE. Well not really it's always matted your fur and makes you look like a stray. Of course you make up for this with your FREAKISH FELINE FORM. You are purrhaps (perhaps) the most well-built cat amongst the group your master owns. You turn around and head back down the hallway that you originally were navigating to find your masters room. Then you saw Karkat and thought to try to confront him. Then the plot changed. You believe this is a good wrap up of the last five minutes and continue going about your way. You would love to tell everyone the story of how you met john, however that will have to wait as you feel that the story will come to a stop here. But surely it'll pick up soon.

**Not to worry the backstory will take up the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Character's Belong to Hussie, but the story is mine, all mine.**

**Equius' Backstory Part 1**

You are now a cat in the past, but not too far in the past, and your life sucks. You have no name because your masters deemed you unworthy of their time and have left you to fend for yourself in this shitty house. They are barely around to take care of you so you're very thin and weak. And even though you're mistreated you feel as though they love you unconditionally. You think this just so you don't become an insane cat. You sure hope you can find someone that does make you feel wanted.

One day your masters return to the house looking for something, you're clueless as to what. You decide to greet them and show them that you're STRONG and survived while they were away. As soon as they see you a wicked smile stretches out on their faces and you realize that they are not your masters, at least not the ones you remember. White dust covers their upper lips and they look as fragile as you do. They are hunched over as they rush you and you are too distracted to react in time. They scoop you up and toss you in a bag. You can barely here what they are saying, not that you would understand it anyway as you are a cat, but the words "cat fight", "big money", and "this damn cat" you can hear as the bag tosses and turns. You feel as though they are carting you away when your head connects with a hard object. You manage a weak meow before you pass out in the darkness of the bag.

When you awaken the object that you landed on seems to be humming and you're rolling back and forth when it seems to go faster. You try to meow but then you're sent rolling forward quickly as the humming comes to an abrupt stop. The sudden stop scares you and now you black out.

The next time you awaken you are out of the bag and on a hard floor. This is thankfully not moving and is brightly lit a welcome change from when you blacked out. However when you look more at your surroundings you can see you're in a cage and there seems to be something on the other side. This thing opens the cage and makes its way over to you and you then feel a pinch in your side. You feel a strange rush of energy and anger well up almost immediately. You get up and look around. On either side of you are other bedraggled cats that look like you feel. Sometime later another shadowy figure comes along and picks you up. You feel so mad that you scratch at this person. But your claws only connect with the clothing they are wearing, as they came prepared to pick you up, and you are taken down a long dark hallway. At the end you pass through a doorway into a room more rundown than the house you had lived in. In the center of this room is a small arena. You are placed in a box at one end and you wait. Of course because of the shot your all riled up and you start to bat at the inside of the box.

You have only waited a few minutes when the box finally opens you charge out and are confronted with another feline that is as crazed as they come. You draw out your claws and make the first move, only to be knocked down by the other cat. You get back up and move in time to be able to dodge the next attack. You take your chance and strike the back of the cats head and leave a pretty sizable cut in its skin. No sooner than you move away the cat falls over. You look closer and see that its fur was matted with its own blood and that your cut finished it off. The other cat is removed and you are taken back to your cage. As soon as they shut the door and leave you feel the energy you had fade away. This causes you to be hit with a wave of tiredness that knocks you right out.

You awake with a start having smelled something burning very close to you. You look around to see what's going on and you see that they were in fact your former masters gathered with others, presumably the ones that put you in that fight. They seem to be huddled around something, and it's on fire, the presumable source of the smell that woke you up. You continue looking as you see them place a bag on the floor, open it, reach inside and pull out the body of the cat you had killed earlier. They through it on to the fire were it seem to stop right at the top of it and lay there. You then notice something is wrong with the cat, Like it is smaller than when you fought it. You then realize, in true shock about it as well, that they shaved the cat and were cooking it. You feel queasy upon this revalation, either that or the smell of cooking cat, and you proceed to hurl in the corner of your cage. You then look back in time to see the persons cooking the cat start to sample some of the meat. You have had enough at this point and decide to look away. It is a long while before sleep finally finds you.

**Sorry to cut this short for now but I wanted to get this out to all those who want it. Please review, thank you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the wait to the all of 1 person that probably reads this I got busy but now I shall continue the flash back for this chapter and the next one. After that I will get back to the main story.**

**I do not own Homestuck, but that is pretty obvious**

**Equius' Backstory part 2**

**Months later**

You have seemingly done the impossible; you have survived this long in the hellhole they brought you into. You never thought you'd make it and neither did your masters. However, they think of you as some useless cat, or so it seems, as they pit you against stronger and stronger felines. But you have the drive to stay alive were as your opponents have already been broken beyond repair. After each fight you win you're injected with the same booster they gave you on the first day here. So you are constantly at your physical peak, but still you feel weak. The one thing you notice is that you are getting used to the shots and can control that outburst you had the first time. But this seems like a hollow victory compared to the fact that you will never leave, unless it's by death, and even if you did your body would be desecrated by those who control you. This overwhelming depression seems to take hold whenever you think about your situation, and you can only hope that you die soon and it'll be over.

You wake up one day to an unfamiliar sound and are confused at the source's location. You look at the cage door to see one of the goons standing their looking at you. "Ah, so your awake." he slurs in a deep and indistinct tone. "Got a little present for you." he says as he shakes the bag, making whatever inside it protest to the movement. "Let's just say it's a congratulatory gift for a job well done." He tosses in the bag and leaves. You stare at the bag and see it begin to move, and out of it appears an olive green-grey cat with bright green eyes. She stares at you, by the smell you think it's a female, and cringes in fear, she thinks you're going to hurt her, however you just turn away and lay your head down to rest. You think as long as you ignore her she'll go away. You fall asleep at the thought of her going away.

It's not long after you start to nap that you feel a paw bat you on the back. You ignore it at first but then it keeps happening again and again. You roll over to see that this kitten has become accustomed to the cage and you. The evidence is quite plainly seen in the little pile of leavings in the corner and her playfulness right now. She seems to want you to play with her in a gaming fashion, of course your just speculating at this point, it really couldn't be something she'll get into, but you continue to ignore because you don't want to have her there. Her being there is mocking you. You don't want to harm her but not doing so makes you look like a pansy to your owners and other cats that are watching. So you go on not acknowledging her and she continues to abuse your shoulders, unabated by any kind of complaint you give.

Many weeks later…

To everyone's surprise the kitten they left to die at your paws has survived. You gave up ignoring her a while ago and instead took care of her in the best way you could. However she has mostly fended for herself because of how you have turned out. Because of the many steroid injections you are now the shell of the feline you used to be. Although you are quite powerful and lean your fur is unkempt and bloodied by your many victories. You have started to feel scared that you might hurt the kitten you have grown fond of. However she no longer shies away from you, pretty much after your first encounter, and this makes you even more fearful. Now that you have someone that you could stand to lose you want to protect that kitten with all your life. So far you have done so by swatting away all those that come into your cage with the intent on harming your friend. They eventually learned that they should leave you alone unless they wanted a quick amputation. They have also brought the fights to you instead, feeling it'll save their lives, thinking that your opponents will get rid of the present they gave you. One day you realize that there aren't as many opponents to fight and you wonder what has happened. The fire pit that they used on the losers hadn't been lit recently and this confused you. It seemed that the masters had up and left you and your friend to starve. That night you curled up with her and drifted off to sleep, pangs of hunger just starting to find their way to you. You awoke the next morning to the same thing: nothing. You looked down at the kitten cuddled against you and you see the contorted faces she makes in her sleep and the growling of her stomach, she is hungry and so are you. You then realize that you need to get out of this cage, for if you stay both of you will die.

**So that is part 2, I hope it was good enough so far. Please leave reviews and comments so I can better improve the story or direct it in an interesting way. It'd be appreciated. Thank you.**


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